Andy Matthews

The brief was to design a new energy efficient, low maintenance house filled with natural light for a couple and their extended family when they visit. The Longis View house is orientated to maximise the spectacular coastal views to the south of the site whilst retaining the sense of intimacy, set slightly into the hillside to the north.

We were asked to look at renovating and extending an existing 4-bedroom house on a long north/south axis site in Surrey. The existing house had a very poor connection to a fantastic rear garden. The plot is on the bend of the road and makes the Oatlands Close house sit at an angle to the long rear garden, which for us created an interesting dynamic and great opportunity.

The Broombank House is set into the banks of the sloped site and accessed via a single-track lane that arrives into a sunken entrance courtyard, offering glimpses of the views beyond. The brief from our client was to create a relaxed contemporary house within a reconsidered, ‘natural’ landscape that blurred the site boundaries to its neighbours and adjoining marshland.